Thursday, 2 July 2015

MALAWIAN CHIEF ANNULS 300 CHILD MARRIAGES

A Malawian traditional leader has taken it upon herself to discourage the prevalence of child marriages within her constituency.

Senior Chief Inkosi Kachindamoto annulled over 300 marriages, thereby applying the country’s new laws regarding child marriage. In April, President Peter Mutharika signed into law a ban on child marriage, setting the minimum age requirement for marriage in the country at 18.

“I have terminated 330
marriages of which 175 were girl-wives and 155 were boy-fathers, I wanted them
to go to school and that has worked,” she told Nyasa Times, “I don’t want
youthful marriages, they must go to school…no child should be found loitering
at home or doing household chores during school time.

Malawi
has one of the highest incidents of child marriage in the world with 1 in 2
girls getting married before the age of 18. The practice is closely linked to
poverty where, in the rural areas, girls are married off to improve their
families’ financial situations.